November 2003 In This Issue

TC Electronic have kindly put together an entire mobile recording system based around their fabulous Powercore Firewire effects processor. Housed in a flightcase, it comes with a MOTU 896 Firewire audio interface for Mac or PC, plus AKG C3000B condenser mic and AKG K271 headphones. This bundle is worth over £2800, so fill out the online entry form and you never know, this time the lucky winner of this fantastic prize could be YOU!

Until now, if you wanted multi-channel or high-resolution audio I/O in a hot-swappable external interface, Firewire was the only way to go. Edirol's UA1000 offers an alternative, using the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 protocol that is standard on nearly all new PCs.

Fruity Loops has built itself quite a cult following in dance music circles. The latest version comes with a new name, FL Studio, as well as some interesting new virtual instruments and proper audio recording features.

Phase cancellation can play havoc with your sound if you're using multiple mics, or combining mic and DI signals. This clever little box offers a solution, providing powerful phase-alignment facilities which go far beyond those of most mixers and preamps.

This impressive-looking instrument provides modelled classic organ, piano and supporting timbres, and is designed to appeal to keyboard players looking for an all-round stage tool — though it could easily form the centrepiece of a home setup too.

This first major revision to Steinberg's Cubase SX incorporates the newly developed audio engine from Nuendo 2, new features for media composers, and classic features from Cubase VST. Does it all add up to a substantial improvement over version 1?

Tascam's FW1884 is more than just a well-specified Firewire audio and MIDI interface: it also offers detailed control over almost every MIDI + Audio sequencer thanks to its motorised faders, rotary controls, transport buttons and more.

When Jimmy Page decided to mine a massive archive of decaying Led Zeppelin live footage for a DVD and double CD, the epic task of restoring, editing and mixing the audio went to rock specialist Kevin Shirley — who has gone on to help veteran metallers Iron Maiden return to the upper reaches of the charts.

Over the last decade, Mouse On Mars have become one of the leading names in European electronic music. Their experimental approach brings together analogue and digital, lo-fi and hi-fi, and real instruments and samples to create an organic-sounding whole.

This month, Sound On Sound begins a major new series, looking back in detail at the engineering and production behind some of the most historically significant recordings ever made, with the story of the first and greatest British rock & roll record.

PC paper specifications can vary so much that it's hard to know how one PC compares to another in terms of its performance with real-word audio apps. Hence the need for tests designed just for music PCs...

Legal action by The Beatles' Apple Records caused the iTunes Music Store to hit the headlines recently, but there's no denying it has been an instant success that could change the way music is distributed forever. We look at the background to the Music Store and consider its implications for independent musicians.

DP 4.1 is here at last, with significant increases in stability and efficiency, as well as support for Apple's Audio Unit plug-in standard. So is Digital Performer finally ready for the big time in OS X?

If you play live regularly, sooner or later someone will suggest that you use a backing track on stage to enhance your performance. So here's how to go about creating them, based on experience learned the hard way!

Ubiquitous though Roland's long-lived range of sound modules appear to be, not many users get the best out of the vast synthesis and processing potential they offer. So here's how to coax circus-pony tricks out of your studio workhorse.

Musicality isn't everything when you're trying to make a decent-sounding recording at home, even if you're as talented as the multi-instrumentalist Harding family. So the SOS team travelled north to help them get their engineering techniques up to scratch.

Long before Bob Moog built his first synth, there was the Hammond tonewheel organ; effectively an additive synthesizer, albeit electro-mechanical rather than electronic. So emulating a Hammond with an analogue synth shouldn't be too hard, right? Well...

This month we report on Steinberg using Nuendo to record a three-day music festival, and look at how a Cubase Drum Map can assist you in finding and working with all the one-shot drum and percussion sounds in your studio.